Core Inflation Eases in Canada, Cementing Rate-Cut Bets

Canadian underlying price pressures eased, even as the headline rate quickened slightly, clearing the way for the central bank to resume cutting interest rates this week.

The consumer price index rose 1.9% from a year ago in August, up from July’s 1.7% increase, Statistics Canada data showed Tuesday. But the acceleration — which was slightly weaker than the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists — was mainly driven by gasoline prices that declined to a smaller extent last month than in July.

In fact, excluding gasoline, the index slowed to 2.4% in August, from 2.5% in each of ...